Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to improved systems and methods for processing and recording audio received from one or more wired or wireless devices.
Many systems and methods have been created to record performance audio. Some such systems include a multi-track audio recorder wired to one or more microphones or receiving wireless audio from one or more microphones. That is, one or more performers performing on a sound stage are recorded by one or more microphones that are directly wired to, or communicate wirelessly with, the multi-track recorder. In some such systems, the multi-track recorder combines the single track of audio received from each microphone to create one multi-track audio file. In many such systems, the received audio and/or the multi-track audio is timestamped with a time reference signal such as a Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (“SMPTE”) timecode signal containing information regarding the hour, minute, second, frame, type of timecode (i.e., nondrop or drop frame), and user-definable information. Such information allows audio to be more easily matched and/or combined with simultaneously recorded video or other performance components.
In some such systems, a producer or other personnel indicates the current SMPTE timecode to the various parties involved in the performance recording via the use of an electronic slate upon which the current timecode is displayed. Many times, the timecode displayed on the slate is generated by a clock internal to the electronic slate. Or, the slate timecode may be obtained from another master timecode source. Also, prior to recording, many components of the performance recording system (e.g., video camera, audio recorder, optical display equipment, etc.) typically physically connect to the electronic slate in order to synchronize the component's timecode generator with that of the electronic slate. In such scenarios, slippage may sometimes occur as each component's timecode generator or clock may run at a slightly different rate.
Or, in some such systems involving the use of an electronic slate, the electronic slate is equipped with a clapper arm. In such an embodiment, the video camera films the timecode displayed by the electronic slate and the audio recorder records the sound of the clapper arm. This allows the editors to synchronize audio and video by coordinating the sound of the clapper arm as captured by the audio recorder(s) with the timecode displayed in the video(s) at the time the clapper arm was sounded.
Typically, the quality of audio recorded by an audio recording device is modified within the audio recorder. That is, a user of the audio recorder listens to the received audio and makes various adjustments to the audio recording circuitry to improve the quality thereof. One such adjustment is gain, or amplification, of the received audio. In some such systems, the change in gain or amplification of the audio is made by modifying one or more amplification circuits located in the audio recorder, and these adjustments may be made locally at the audio recorder via knobs, slides, and the like.